Trump and Hillary Clinton equally unpopular

If you were standing in the convention hall here or watching the Democratic National Convention on television Monday night, it quickly became clear from the tumult on the floor that the Republican Party doesn’t have a copyright on disunity. And there’s not much doubt about the reason for that.

Although most people who identify as Democrats or lean toward the Democratic Party have a favorable opinion of Hillary Clinton, that view isn’t nearly universal. A look at the recent polling shows that Clinton and Donald Trump are now about equally popular, both with their respective bases and with the American public at large.

Even after becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee, Clinton has seen little improvement in her standing among Democrats and Democratic leaners. According to Gallup, Clinton’s favorable rating among those groups was 68 percent on the day of the California primary (June 7). Today, it stands at 70 percent. In other words, nearly a third of Democrats don’t hold a favorable view of her. At this point in the 2008 campaign, only 14 percent of Democrats didn’t hold a favorable view of Barack Obama, according to Gallup — 84 percent did. Even if most Democrats prefer Clinton to Trump, a sizable portion of them do so at this point without liking her.

Trump’s popularity with Republican and Republican leaners, meanwhile, has spiked since he wrapped up the Republican nomination. Gallup pegged Trump’s favorable rating at just 58 percent with Republicans on the day of the Indiana primary (May 3). Now, it’s 72 percent. That’s still not great; John McCain’s favorable rating at this point in 2008 was 89 percent among Republicans in Gallup’s polling. But as Trump has improved his image on the right and Clinton has failed to improve hers on the left, they now find themselves in the same spot....

They both are left vying to be the lesser of two evils, but I find them equally evil. They are both unusually dishonest in their approach to politics. Clinton is an unusually prolific liar, and Trump comes across as an incoherent ignoramus at best. It is hard to trust anything either of them says unless it is something that exposes their venal personality disorders.

For some, the decision may come down to whomever they may appoint to various positions. That is the sales pitch some Trump supporters are pushing. I just do not know whether you can trust him to follow the advice of good people he might appoint.

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